Improvement in coffin-handles



, same, taken in the line a: x,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IRA ALMY, OF FARMER, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT lN COFFlN-HANDLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,375, dated April 25, 1865.

T0 @ZL whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IEA ALMY, of Farmer, in the county of Seneca `and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Detachable Coffin-Handle; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specifica tion, in Which- Figure l is a 'bottom or under View of my invention 5 Fig. 2, a vertical section of the Fig. 3; Fig. 3, a front View of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

The handles are the most expensive metal furniture pertaining to a coffin, especially when they are massive and elaborately ornamented, as is the case with those applied to iirst-elass coftins.

The object of this invention is to obtain a, handle which may be readily applied to a coffin and detached from itin a moment of time and without the aid of any mechanical tools, whereby a set of handles may be applied to an indefinite number of coiiins-the former being applied to a eofiin when the body is placed in it and removed when the coffin is to be incased or deposited in its final place. By this means every coffin may be provided with handles, as every undertaker, by providing himself with a few sets, may apply them when they are required for use and detach them when they are no longer required. Thus a great saving will be effected, and coffns of moderate `cost supplied with handles without any appreciable extra expense.

A represents a metal plate, which may be of any ornamental appropriate design, and of sufficient length to extend from the bottom of a coffin upward to a height where the handle should be applied. This plateAhas a flange a is provided with pinsb to penetrate thebottom of the coflin, and a set or thumb screw, C, passes through the upper part of plate A, so that it may be screwed into the side of the coftin and firmly secure the plate A thereto.

The handle D may be attached to the plate A in the same way that handles are attached to the ordinary plates, which are screwed permanently to the coffin.

The knob c ot the thumb-screw O `may serve as a guard for the handle to rest or strike against.

In order to attach the handles to the coffin, all that is required is sim ply to press the pins b of the ilanges or lipsa into the bottom edge of the coffin, and then screw the thumb-screws O into the sides thereof, the screws C .being provided withfgimlet-points. To detach the handles, the screws Gare unserewed and the plates A pressed slightly downward to detach the pins b.

By this arrangement. the handles may not only be expeditiously applied to and detached from the coffin, but they are also lirmly secured to it when applied, and admit of the coffin being carried by the handles equally as securely as if they were permanently attached to it in the old way.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- A detachable coiiin-handle secured to a coin through the medium of a plate, applied in the manner substantially as shownand described. l

IRA ALMY.

Witnesses:

N. R. WHEELER, D. C. WHEELER. 

